


Culture Shock

by TamerLorika



Category: Dragons: Riders of Berk (Cartoon), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Astrid and Hiccup are Bros, Astrid kicks more ass than anyone ever, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Other, Platonic Soulmates, Secret Odin 2015, Snoggletog, Spoilers for Dragons: Riders of Berk, Spoilers for Gift of the Night Fury, dragon cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-15
Updated: 2015-11-15
Packaged: 2018-05-01 18:52:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5216873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TamerLorika/pseuds/TamerLorika
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Toothless missed last year's Snoggletog, so he is a little behind on the cultural significance of it. And he wants, so very much, to make Hiccup happy. </p><p>Stormfly thinks that Toothless needs to slow down and think a minute, but she's happy to play along.</p><p>Hiccup thinks Toothless is in danger, so as always, he's going to go out and do something really stupid</p><p>Astrid think she doesn't get paid enough for this.</p><p> </p><p>For the Berk's Grapevine Secret Odin exchange! For VanBlueDragon<br/>Spoilers for S1 of Dreamworks Dragons, Spoilers for Gift of the Night Fury<br/>See end for me ranting about cultural differences and linguistic fluff</p>
            </blockquote>





	Culture Shock

**Author's Note:**

  * For [VanBlueDragon](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=VanBlueDragon).



It was a quaint holiday, Toothless was sure, but Snoggletog was stressing him out. Berk’s culture was at times strange, backwards, and breathtakingly pure, and Toothless was happy and fascinated to learn all that he could about it. However, the idea of Snoggletog was, if sweet, a little mind-boggling.

Giving the ones you loved things was understandable. If Hiccup needed something from a high place, Toothless could get it for him. Sometimes, Toothless was too big to get into the tide pools where delicious prawns would lurk, and Hiccup would fish them out for him. If there was something that Hiccup wanted or needed that he could not get for himself, Toothless would give it to him, and vice versa.

What Toothless was having a hard time understanding was the fact that there was a _day_ for giving things. What if you didn’t need something that day? How was he supposed to know in advance what Hiccup needed? He knew he had to give Hiccup something. That part was clear. This was a day for doing something for someone you loved.

 _But what?_ Toothless groaned to Stormfly privately as they flew from training that day. Hiccup and Astrid were chatting astride them, and Hiccup was not good enough at translating draconic communication to be able to do it with as fast as Toothless was speaking, much less while he was distracted. _Is holiday is important but what to give what does Hiccup want_? _Fish? He likes cod fish he gets me prawns should I get prawns?_

Stormfly chirred a Nadder’s laugh at him. _No no not that kind of gift. Fish useful. Useful not point. Gift not point._

Toothless tried to show her how unamused he was by her ridiculousness. _What. Stormfly did too many flight-loops Stormfly what. Gift must be useful. Gift a thing to give to make happy._

 _Right! Toothless is right, to make happy!_ The Nadder and Toothless often had these sorts of exchanges, discussing the intricacies of human culture. The other dragons would sometimes play along, but many of the Academy dragons just didn’t care much, or, like Meatlug, thought they had it all figured out and were usually quite incorrect. For example, humans showing the soles of their feet were _not_ a vulnerability, especially when they were wearing shoes. Meatlug really needed to stop licking Fishlegs’ feet.

 _Point to make happy?_ Toothless asked flatly. _Hiccup makes Toothless happy, and Toothless makes Hiccup happy. Holiday for this?_

Toothless expected that he wasn’t getting it, quite, but Stormfly was encouraging. _Yes! Holiday is for Toothless-and-Hiccup making each other happy._

 _Fish makes Hiccup happy_ , Toothless argued petulantly, just to get the last word in. But he was thinking that maybe this holiday made sense, just a little, after all. The point was to do something _special_ for Hiccup, to bring joy to him. He remembered the year he had brought Hiccup his helmet from underwater. He hadn’t understood that it was timed to coincide with Snoggletog, but it was still a gift, and it had worked. Toothless had also made Hiccup happy when he smashed the tail he had been given, which was good, because Toothless would have done it anyway. He had done it very selfishly, because it made him sick and slow and wrong when he was in the air alone. He had not seen Hiccup from above in his entire life, not once, and to see him on the ground while he was in the air was dizzying and wrong in a way that he could not describe, but knew very certainly.

This year, though, Toothless had no lost items to return, and nothing to smash that would make Hiccup happy. He could set fire to the sweater Astrid’s aunt made Hiccup, because Hiccup hated it and thought it itched horribly, and it even chafed Toothless while they were flying—but that wasn’t the point, either, and Toothless was beginning to understand that. Besides, if he didn’t do it, Hiccup would persuade Barf and Belch to thoroughly destroy the sweater, and Toothless would hate to deprive them of a good game of “Setting Things on Fire”.

Toothless fretted about the Snoggletog as it approached. He wasn’t sure, precisely, when it was, but the entire village was bustling and preparing and holding the breath of _soon._ But just as Toothless was beginning to think that he would just have to go fishing, Stormfly’s advice be damned, his solution finally came in the form of a training and tracking exercise.

* * *

 

”The babies were coming from here all along!” Hiccup said in wonder as he examined the faceted shells of the Gronkle eggs. They were in pieces, now, scattered across the floor of a shallow cave, left behind when the babies exploded, presumably before their mothers could drop them in the shallow cove nearby. “I told the rest of the riders.”

They had been tracking the origins of a new nest of previously unknown Gronkle hatchlings, each of the riders going their separate ways along the island to see who could first find the home nest. It was both tracking and census, and Toothless had honestly expected Meatlug to get there first; she knew where Gronkles were most comfortable laying. Toothless knew he and Hiccup had a very bad habit of getting distracted, or worse, detained by something usually quite dangerous. But here they were, Hiccup happily crouching over shell detritus and examining them with a single-minded wonder as Toothless investigated a series of interesting smells in the cave—

 _No!_ Toothless roared, and Hiccup’s head wrenched up as he rapid-fire translated the draconic word for denial and the sudden tenseness in Toothless’ body. The split second of warning was just enough for Hiccup throw himself into Toothless’ saddle before a Whispering Death burst up through the previously solid back of the cave.

“Glad he left us an escape route!” Hiccup yelled as Toothless ignored him and focused on running pell-mell out into the cold evening air.

 _Watch for following!_ Toothless scolded. Hiccup was getting better in increments at understanding Toothless, even when the dragon was too agitated to communicate clearly, and it showed, as Hiccup twisted around in the saddle to check their tail. Toothless felt Hiccup’s tense posture relax a bit.

“Nah, he isn’t following,” Hiccup sighed. “Man, I didn’t get a good look at those shells, though. I wanted to see what they were made out of—Gronkle babies incubate in fluid that can reach huge temperatures, can you imagine how those shells were made?”

Toothless snorted. _Well, when a dragon-that-lays-eggs loves a dragon-that-fertilizes-eggs very much…_

Hiccup patted the back of Toothless’ skull. “I didn’t catch all of that but I’m thinking it was filthy.”

Hiccup wasn’t the only adolescent, Toothless supposed.

“It’s a little weird that a Whispering Death moved in so fast after that cave was vacated,” Hiccup sighed, rubbing a hand down the span of where Toothless’ shoulders met wings. Toothless let the soothing motion bring down his heartrate, and felt as it did the same for Hiccup. Even with all of the heart-stopping danger that they seemed to face on such a regular basis, neither could stop their bodies from reacting quite so dramatically when surprised or scared. Toothless supposed that it was what kept them alive, on many occasions: the ability to move quickly when surprised.

“Wish I’d gotten to grab one or two of those shells,” Hiccup sighed. “Maybe we can go back, when we’re sure the Whispering Death is gone.”

 _Tomorrow?_ Toothless suggested, already plotting. They were on a part of Berk that was less explored than the others, as the lush forests of the island flattened out into volcanic rock and then abruptly rose to the heights of cliff-faces.  It was not very interesting to look at, but it smelled of many things that he had not had time to properly follow and sniff out.

“Nah, bud, it’s Snoggletog-Eve tomorrow,” Hiccup reminded him, and Toothless quarked a noise of annoyance. “What, did you forget to get me something?” Hiccup teased.

Toothless didn’t answer, which made Hiccup laugh at him. _I give Hiccup fish – half fish, only_ , Toothless sniffed. But he would not. He finally had a much better idea. Hiccup wanted Gronkle egg shells; surely that was something that Toothless could do for him.

 

* * *

 

The trick of it was to get away from Hiccup for a few hours. Stormfly had tried to impress the point of secrecy on him, which added to the sheer bizarreness of the already mystifying custom. Stormfly _had_ been there last year, though, so Toothless supposed she was the most trustworthy of the dragons on the subject.

She was also the best partner in crime, in this case. _Oh no_ , Stormfly cawed loudly as her beak-like jaw cut through two of the straps on her saddle without anyone noticing. _Saddle broke. Hiccup!_

Hiccup recognized his name, the distinct noise of an actual hiccup that burbled from Stormfly’s chest. “What is it Stormfly—shoot, how did you do that?”

Astrid had been sharpening her axe while the four of them were hiding in Gobber’s forge. Snoggletog Eve was tomorrow, but Berk was already in festivity mode. And they were drinking _yak nogg_ , which was a drink no one expected or hoped would take off. It was a self-preservation measure that the dragons and their riders were as far out of the way as possible before any of them were forced to partake. “Stormfly? How—we’ve been indoors all day!”

Stormfly shrugged and rattled her spikes in a sound of amusement. She liked sneaking and playing tricks; she was worse than Barf and Belch sometimes.

“I’ve got it,” Hiccup sighed. “At least we picked the forge to hang out in—I can replace the straps in an hour or two.”

 _Thank you,_ Toothless trilled at a smug Stormfly. He could sneak out and back, Gronkle egg shells secured, in no time at all. Stormfly continued to rattle her spikes, a sound that would have tipped off a dragon to something being afoot, but not a human.

As Hiccup sank into the wrapped-wings of concentration that he fell to when making something with his clever hands, Toothless huffed a small laugh to himself and snuck out.

 

* * *

 

“Toothless, it’s getting cold. Can you heat up the—“ Hiccup stopped, looking up from his work. “Uh. Forge. Toothless?”

Astrid strolled back into the smithy. She had gone to retrieve the filigreed rivets she had bought from Johann last time he was around. If Hiccup was re-doing Stormfly’s saddle anyway, he might as well add a little bit of flair.

“Have you seen Toothless?” Hiccup asked. He shivered a little; he hadn’t realized how cold it had gotten, and so fast. It looked like Snoggletog would be covered in a layer of fresh snow, this year.

“Yeah, he left the forge hours ago,” Astrid told Hiccup. “He looked like he thought he was being sneaky, but he’s kind of, you know, _big_. I thought you knew he left.”

Hiccup frowned. “No. I didn’t. Where did he go – did you see?”

Astrid shrugged. “No idea. But he’ll be home soon. There’s a huge snowstorm blowing in, you can see the cloud-banks from here.”

Hiccup’s frown deepened. Astrid could see the wheels turning in his head. That expression was never good. “Yeah. I hope he gets back soon,” he mumbled. “I can’t believe I missed him leaving.”

The wind whistled in response, making an eerie noise through the Snoggletog tree in the center of town. Most of the festivities had moved into the Great Hall for the time being.

“Come on, Hiccup, let’s go. You can finish Stormfly’s saddle later; it doesn’t look like we will be flying tonight, anyway,” Astrid suggested. She watched Hiccup’s eyes dart around the room, the way he looked a little bit lost and a lot…smaller. Sometimes, she took for granted the fact that Hiccup and Toothless were such a cohesive whole. When she saw them apart, however, it made sense. They weren’t supposed to be apart for long.

“Sure,” Hiccup said carefully. “I’ll just—uh. Well. Toothless will know where to find us.”

Astrid nodded. “Yeah. Come on Stormfly, let’s see how many chickens they’re cooking in there.”

Stormfly trilled happily, and Astrid pushed Hiccup out of the forge. She hung back a little to talk privately to Stormfly, though. Astrid was not nearly as good at understanding draconic language as Hiccup was, but she knew Stormfly understood her. “You two are up to something, aren’t you?” she asked Stormfly. “Do you know where Toothless is?”

 _Yes_ , Stormfly nodded her head in an exaggerated manner to make sure Astrid understood. _Toothless safe. It’s good surprise._ This, she accompanied with a soothing purring noises, letting Astrid know all was well.

“If you’re sure,” Astrid said, patting Stormfly’s flank. “Hiccup was a mess last year without Toothless. Just like I was without you.”

Stormfly delicately nuzzled the side of Astrid’s body. She loved her rider, too.

Astrid trusted Stormfly, but she was questioning her calmness as the night wore on. It had gotten dark quickly, too quickly, even for winter. The wind was in fighting form now, chasing itself across the city and making the Snoggletog tree creak and echo. Astrid could see her friend get more and more distracted as the night wore on, and winced every time some good-natured Berkian asked where Toothless was. Astrid could _see_ Hiccup blaming himself for not seeing his friend leave, but clearly Toothless didn’t want to be found—for whatever reason.

 The rest of the Academy was getting riled up as well. None of the others was made to be stuck indoors with so much yak nogg flowing. After Astrid neatly disabled a fight between the twins, and then talked Snotlout out of going to start an arm-wrestling “fight to the death, oi oi oi!” with Bucket, Stoick pulled her aside.

“That’s good work, Astrid. You know how to keep the peace,” Stoick told her gruffly.

Astrid shrugged. “If I have to.”

“Yes, I see Hiccup isn’t much help in that, right now. You two usually have it under control between you.”

Astrid sighed. “Yeah, he’ll be fine tomorrow when Toothless gets back from…wherever he is.”

“Well, you and the others should head back to your houses. The wind has died down for a time, and tomorrow is a holiday.”

“Thanks chief,” Astrid sighed. She was looking forward to getting back home to curl up with the space heating Nadder and get a good rest. The weather was throwing everyone off, and she hoped she could sleep away the feeling for something bad about to…

“Stormfly,” Astrid asked flatly, pulling the Nadder away from where she was having a very intense conversation with Meatlug over the cultural importance of the Snoggletog tree. “Did you see Hiccup leave?”

The Nadder whistled a no, shaking her head for emphasis.

Astrid groaned. “Taking bets on him going out like a lunatic to find his dragon,” she muttered, her heart sinking as Stormfly finally started to look worried.

 _Toothless not gone long. Toothless getting Snoggletog gift. Not danger. But Hiccup. Hiccup no fly, small, cold,_ Stormfly explained to Astrid, who did not catch more than two words.

Those two words happened to be “danger” and “Hiccup”, though, which were accurate but not reassuring. “Why does he always insist on going out on his own, like I wouldn’t back him up in an _instant_ if he asked?” Astrid fumed. She loved the boy like a brother, sometimes with violence, but he had always been there for her, even before Toothless, when they were competing more than they were friendly. Astrid had been jealous, for a long time, that Hiccup had been born the son of the chief, when he didn’t even have an interest in leading or skill killing dragons. These days, Astrid understood that being chief was not really something she wanted for herself, at least not in the way that the position had always been. She preferred her role now, as one of the captains of the budding academy, and introducing dragon-riding into the Berk Guard.

Her thoughts, riddled with strategy and an idea for how she was going to case the island, were interrupted as she left the Great Hall and was hit, at the same time, by a blast of freezing wind—and _almost_ hit by a galloping Night Fury.

“Toothless?” Astrid demanded, peeking out from behind Stormfly’s protective wing. Her dragon had stepped subtly between her and the energetic Toothless, preventing him from knocking her over. 

Toothless hiccupped questioningly.

“No, he went to go get _you_ ,” Astrid snapped.

The first slick, slashing shards of snow began to fall as Toothless’ eyes widened.

“Well, if you hadn’t disappeared, he wouldn’t have been so worried,” she said impatiently. “You two are both the most reckless, unreasonable…” she cut herself off, realizing she was on the verge of ranting at Toothless when she really needed to focus on finding her heart-brother. Stupid boys. “It doesn’t matter right now. Can’t you feel that storm? He isn’t going to come home until he finds you, and since you’re _here_ , he’s not going to. Stormfly and I are going to go out there and see if we can head him off. He can't have gotten far.”

Toothless head whipped up to stare into the flurries of snow swirling around them, making a deep noise of distress. He looked poised to jump into the air himself, but then paused and twitched his tail in agitation, unable to get the fan of the prosthetic to open.

“Keep close to the village, Toothless, because if you get lost _again,_ we’ll be right where we left off.” Astrid knew her annoyance was mostly unfair, but she was getting worried. It was dark, and Hiccup was definitely not wearing a cloak when he left.

She turned to heft up onto Stormfly, knowing that it was going to be a long and annoying flight without the saddle, when she heard an agitated screech from behind her and spun back around. She found herself unexpectedly face-to-face with Toothless, who had gone from concerned to panicked in moments. He was making growling and snapping noises, over and over, clearly trying to speak to her. Astrid could only understand the sounds of Hiccup’s name.

“Toothless, I don’t understand what you’re saying, but sheathe your teeth and back up,” Astrid said slowly and carefully. The slits of Toothless’ pupils were narrowed and on the wrong side of wild, and Astrid, for her part, was feeling a little threatened. She felt Stormfly’s solid presence at her back, and heard the Nadder’s soothing purrs, but wasn’t sure if Stormfly meant it for her or for Toothless.

It seemed to be working on the Night Fury, though, because Toothless was backing up, just slightly. He was keeping up a low, constant growling noise, but the teeth were hidden behind the tiniest of snarls.

“Okay, so as I said, Stormfly and I are going to—“

Toothless whipped around, startling Astrid and displaying his saddle. He rattled it back and forth, making the foot pedals jingle.

“You’re not asking me to—“ Astrid started. “No. Stormfly and I go together.”

Toothless made one deep popping sound, like the snap of burning logs. He wasn’t looking at Astrid anymore, but at Stormfly. This time, he chattered in a low, steady stream, and his chest and flanks shook. Stormfly was chattering back. Astrid was hard-pressed to follow what was occurring between the two of them—until Stormfly nudged her back gently, towards a crouching Toothless.

“Stormfly?” Astrid asked.

Stormfly continued to purr deeply.

“Are you sure? I don’t know if I can—“

Toothless whined, high and tight, and it was a sound of panic.

Stormfly nuzzled Astrid, then nudged her to the frantic Night Fury again. Right, then. Astrid and Toothless would go and get Hiccup, and bring him home for Snoggletog.

 

* * *

 

 Hiccup was very sore, very cold, and starting to get quite worried. He was also not sure if he could go any further.

“Stupid leg,” Hiccup muttered, trying not to let his anxiety get out of control. He hadn’t been able to solve the traction problems with it and had spent half of his climb into the heights of Berk fighting emerging patches of black ice. He’d gotten far, further than he should have, but eventually it was just a bit too much—one wrong step, and his ankle had wrenched, and that was that. Now his good leg was out of the picture, and throbbing painfully.

Which meant that he _and_ Toothless were trapped out here, he thought. He didn’t know why he hadn’t brought anyone with him, but no one was as worried as he was about his dragon. He had needed to get to Toothless, who was grounded without him, but instead ended up getting himself hurt as well. It wasn’t one of his finest moments, to be sure.

At least his ankle was starting to hurt less—it was getting too cold to feel anything at all.

“Thor,” Hiccup muttered, hobbling awkwardly towards a pine tree and the branches that some previous storm had ripped off it. “If you’re listening, hold off this storm until Toothless can get home.” He managed to grab a vaguely well-sized branch, and tried hauling himself up on it. Pine wasn’t the best wood at all for making a crutch, but it was going to have to do. “And me, too, while you’re at it.”

Thor apparently wasn’t a fan, because the first splashes of snowfall were settling, cold and sharp, into Hiccup’s hair and thawing on the backs of his hands.

 “Fine, just Toothless!” Hiccup yelled at the sky. Yelling at the sky probably didn’t help, but it made him feel just a little bit better—he could blame Thor for hating him, and not his own ignorance for both losing sight of his best friend _and_ botching the rescue mission so thoroughly. He wasn’t even sure which direction to go anymore—logic suggested going back to Berk and getting help, but Toothless was _still out there_. How could he go back to safety when his other half wasn’t safe?

He had to make a decision _soon_ though. The wind was rising, beginning to whip into fine winter storm form. His knees were trembling, and it was surprisingly hard to hold himself up.

“I can check that old cave he likes to look for bird eggs in; it’s on the way back down,” Hiccup reasoned out loud. Talking to himself was not one of the best signs of having it together, but normally someone was _listening_ to him chatter. “And maybe I can, I don’t know, wait out the worst of it—“

The ground trembled beneath him again. It was definitely the ground, this time, not his legs, which would have been a relief, except…

… except, just then, the Whispering Death corkscrewed out of the ground.

“Oh, gods,” Hiccup said, the icy tendrils of fear bleeding into the ice out of the sky and leaving him feeling almost nothing at all. “This is how I go? Really?”

The Whispering Death _screamed_ , belying its name and also displaying its fearsome, rotating rows of teeth. Hiccup took in the close-up details of it in a daze. He couldn’t run, not like he was; he could only watch the creature in front of him. It had a matched set of scarred-over claw marks raked down part of its thorax.

With some kind of mad, Viking-like, tenuous hope, Hiccup reached out a slow and gentle hand towards the Whispering Death’s snout. He couldn’t stop his fingertips from shaking.

“Toothless is never going to forgive himself,” Hiccup whispered to himself, and it was really the only thing he regretted about dying.

 _DO NOT!_ came the piercing cry from just under the low and threatening cloud break. Hiccup’s head jerked up in surprise and not a little adrenaline-fueled terror, and it was while he was distracted that the Whispering Death struck.

Toothless was on the thing in a jumble of claws and limbs and snapping teeth. Astrid stood on his back, letting him glide into the melee as she swung her axe wildly, rolling gracefully onto the ground and entering the fray. The Whispering Death hissed and dodged as Toothless howled words that Hiccup only knew meant very bad things.

“It’s the one from before!” Hiccup shouted at Toothless. “It’s the Whispering Death that was stalking you earlier.”

Toothless’ growls only increased in volume as he fought—but, suddenly, the other dragon wasn’t there _to_ fight. It had dodged and feinted right out of both Toothless and Astrid’s way and was yowling towards Hiccup instead.

“Ack, why me?!” Hiccup yelped, trying to roll out of the way but instead hitting his injured ankle and landing flat on his face with an un-Viking-like cry.

Toothless was on him immediately, planting his paws on either side of Hiccup’s prostrate body and shielding the human with his scaled bulk. The heart-fire inside the dragon was building up, icy blue against the deep, cold grey of the sky.

The Whispering Death was issuing the dragon’s challenge, its spiraling tail whipping up into a frenzy of movement. It kept feinting towards Hiccup, only to back off at every threatening and anguished howl from Toothless.

"Seriously, it’s a question, why is it attacking me?” Hiccup demanded as he struggled to get his legs under him. If he could pull out his father’s knife, at least he wouldn’t be useless in the fight.

“It’s the one that was after Toothless before. It’s moving from challenge to revenge!”

Hiccup had almost forgotten Astrid was in the mix, as he was fought over by two increasingly angry dragons. Astrid wasn’t about to let anyone forget her, however, and accompanied her pragmatic answer with a flourishing dive to slice behind the Whispering Death’s tail. The dragon whipped its head around in anguish, but Toothless was in front of it again, moving slightly away from Hiccup to distract its opponent from Astrid – but not enough to leave his rider vulnerable.

Hiccup was finally able to struggle to his feet, though, and even though he leaned heavily on his bad leg, he fumbled his long knife out to brandish it as threateningly as he could.

“Don’t do that, didn’t you hear, it wants _you_!” Astrid shouted, and Hiccup realized too late that he had made himself a target.

“Sorry!” he yelped, immediately dropping back onto his knees. Astrid flew in front of him, streaking away again to distract the Whispering Death, as Toothless finally got a good enough shot to hit the dragon with plasma.

The Whispering Death made a noise of distress and paused, but did not fly away.

“It’s not going to stop unless it’s dead!” Astrid yelled, brandishing her axe—but Hiccup could tell she hated the idea as much as he did.

“Or unless it knows it can’t win?” Hiccup offered.

Toothless, who hadn’t been vocal at all until this point, snarled a denial and a word that Hiccup was learning quite well, an order to _stay put._

“Okay, well, show it our dominance, that should be easy,” Astrid replied. Hiccup thought that she had forgotten to be sarcastic about that; her eyes were alight with a frankly frightening battle-fire. “Distract it!”

“Ah, okay, sure,” Hiccup replied. Quick distraction. He could do that. The Whispering Death wouldn’t go for him, it looked like, unless it could be sure it was out of Toothless’ striking range.

Toothless, who had been distracted by the rapid-fire human planning, turned to Hiccup with eyes wide. _Hiccup do not do that STAY STAY STAY._

“Sorry!” Hiccup yelled, and ran away from Toothless as fast as his injured leg could take him. It was, admittedly, not far or fast before the pain was too much, but it did the job. The Whispering Death saw its opening and struck.

So did Astrid. While the corkscrewing dragon lunged for Hiccup, and Toothless howled in fear, Astrid was moving back just far enough to take a running leap and hurl herself into the air off the side of a low boulder and then a dead tree. Yelling the Hofferson battle cry, she landed on the back of the Whispering Death, and, neatly avoiding the spikes on his back, began to beat the dragon bluntly with the flat of her axe.

Hiccup wasn’t sure what he was seeing, precisely—his vision was half-obscured by Toothless paws as the dragon protected him with this body, and the rest of his vision was blurring with pain, but he was _fairly sure_ he was seeing the Whispering Death slink slowly and dazedly to the ground. Lower and lower it went, with Astrid belaboring it with her axe-flat and yelling unkind things in its aural depressions. Finally, the Whispering Death was wrestled all the way on the ground, and Astrid leapt off it, only to use both her hands to grind its face into the dirt. It was violent, brutal, and…working.

“We’re your gods-damned alpha now, dragon,” she shouted at it. The dragon whimpered and, very slowly, moved so that it’s slim and swirling belly was exposed.

“It’s—ah—it’s surrendering to her?” Hiccup asked, before another throb to his ankle had him grunting in pain. Toothless regarded the display with a fierce sort of joy, murmuring a sound of approval that still growled from the depths of his blue-glowing chest.

“And if you ever come back to this island,” Astrid promised. “I _will_ eat you.”

Hiccup didn’t even want to know if she was serious. He was pretty sure she was.

Whimpering, the Whispering Death wriggled on the ground for a few moments after Astrid took her hands off him. Then, it exposed its belly to her one more time, and was off and away. Gone, this time—possibly—for good.

Hiccup watched it go, but Toothless turned to him immediately after the threat was gone, crooning sounds for _stupid_ and _afraid_ and _love you_ and _hurt_. He gently nosed where Hiccup was curled on the ground, encouraging his rider to stretch out so he could sniff and nose gently at his injured ankle.

“It’s fine, bud, I’m fine. I’ll get it fixed. But where _were_ you, I was looking, and in the storm I was afraid—“

“Dumb dragon was back not half a glass after you went out looking for him,” Astrid butted in, breathing heavily but leaning quite smugly on her axe haft, the head buried in the snow.

 _Don’t worry_ , Toothless said, and a mixture of other words that meant _regret_ and _fear_ again.

“Astrid, I am never, ever going to get on your bad side,” Hiccup told her honestly, sitting up. “Thank you.”

Astrid sniffed. “I wouldn’t eat you. I’d probably just maim you a bit.”

“Great.”

Now that the adrenaline was gone, and the joy of recovering Toothless in one piece was fading, the cold smacked Hiccup in the face all over again and he shuddered hard.

“Alright, idiot, let’s get you home. You too, _flying_ idiot,” Astrid extended to Toothless, who was trying his best to ignore her while pressing Hiccup to get up. Between the dragon on one side and Astrid on the other, they had him draped ungracefully over Toothless’ saddle.

“Ready to head home, Toothless?” Astrid asked, patting the side of the dragon’s neck. Toothless huffed and took to the air as carefully as he could, ever mindful of Hiccup shifting uncomfortably on his back. Although they were racing against the wind, Berk was in sight in almost no time at all.

Stoick met them in the town square, looking intimidating and regal in the furred cape whipping around his shoulders.

“I have half a mind to string you all up by your ears!” the chief was roaring even as they touched the ground. “It’s the night before Snoggletog, and you three have tae go missin’ on me?”

Hiccup was stammering apologies as he slipped off of Toothless’ back, held half-up by Astrid on his good side. He was cut off, however, as Stoick wrenched both of them into a hard and bruising hug.

“Now get yerself home before yer parents come tearin’ down my door,” Stoick tried to finish scolding Astrid, but his grin was too fond. “I’ll get the story from ye later, but I have no doubts you were a major part of his rescue effort.”

Astrid blinked at the closest thing to overt praise that Stoick usually ever gave out. Then she bowed and had scampered away, into her own home.

“You,” Stoick barked, glaring half-heartedly at Hiccup again. “And also probably you,” he swung his gaze to Toothless. “It’s late, and I want you in bed and out of trouble, just for a few hours. You can tell me what in Thor’s name you were doing out in this storm tomorrow.”

Toothless made an indicating noise at Stoick, and then down at Hiccup’s leg. When Stoick saw Hiccup favoring it, he groaned. “Correction. You tell me now, after I go get Gothi.”

“Fair,” Hiccup sighed, and let Stoick swing him back onto Toothless, who carried him inside.

 

* * *

 

Three hours, a serious scolding, and one freezing-cold-and-angry old woman with a stick later, Hiccup was tucked into the warmest corner of the kitchen. Gothi got to have his bed, as the storm was officially too bad for anyone to go back out into.

Hiccup didn’t mind in the least. Despite the ridiculousness of this day, he was incredibly content. There was something to be said to be curled up, warm and under a thick blanket, when the weather raged its impotent ire outside, especially when he knew how bad it had been out there first hand. Toothless was curled around him, almost defiantly, careful not to jar Hiccup’s leg but also breathing musty dragon-breath into his hair.

Hiccup shifted slightly to shove his cold elbows closer towards Toothless’ warm body.

 _Stay_ , Toothless growled, settling his forepaws around Hiccup and yanking him, immobile, towards the dragon’s chest.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Hiccup sighed, too content and sleepy to be properly indignant. Of course, then he got curious. “But where did _you_ go?” he asked, trying to muster up the right amount of suspicion around a yawn. “Why did you leave without letting me know? I was worried, Toothless, and when you didn’t come back before it started storming…”

Toothless sighed, a mixture of defeat and fondness and a bit of guilt. Hiccup felt the dragon shift, and looked up to see him snag his abandoned saddlebags with his tail from where there were hanging on the peg above them. Toothless lowered them in front of Hiccup, indicating for him to look inside.

Inside, still intact from the fight and the flight and the whole crazy evening, were the Gronkle egg shells, covered in Night Fury saliva and but otherwise unharmed. The biggest pieces were almost the entire shell. Hiccup held them reverently, looking at them in awe, but then realizing that this, still, wasn’t an answer. He strained his neck to look up into Toothless’ appraising gaze.

“You went to get these? Why?” Hiccup asked.

Toothless sighed and flicked his tail again, this time pointing directly at the wreaths of branches that they had decorated the house with. The dragon startled as Hiccup let out a groan.

“This is a gift for Snoggletog?” Hiccup asked. “Toothless—I’m amazed. You went out of your way to—“ Hiccup’s voice went soft. “Thank you, bud. I can’t believe you’d go all that way for me—but this is the second time we’ve done this! Don’t you think maybe we’re doing something a little wrong here?”

Toothless made a considering noise. They had, indeed, scared the living daylights out of each other in the name of good gifts two years running now.

Hiccup sighed and rested his forehead against Toothless’ snout. “Toothless, all I want every year is to spend this holiday with you, understand? That’s it. If I can spend the day meant for family and doing things for loved ones with my partner, don’t you think that’s what this is all for?”

Toothless grumbled something mildly discontented along the lines of _well how was I supposed to know_ , but he eventually quieted down into a steady hum of thought. Hiccup had almost drifted off when Toothless spoke up again.

 _Together now_ , he hummed, and spread his wings out just a bit, to cover Hiccup and to pull him even closer to the dragon’s side.

“Yeah, we are,” Hiccup agreed. “Best Snoggletog present I could ever ask for.”

 _Best always._ Toothless said, and clarified. _Always together._

Hiccup had hope in his heart that in the year to come, that is exactly how they would be.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I think a lot about the cultural differences between Dragons and Humans, and how that really messes with their understanding of each other, sometimes. I have a whole fic that I'm halfway through that takes all of these things into account, but I hope I introduced the concept well enough, here. 
> 
> For anyone who is curious, in my head, Dragon-speech is a fully codified language with grammar rules and a general structure, but it is much more malleable than English (or Old Norse) in two ways:
> 
> First, it is entirely spoken, which makes the language change rapidly, as there is no written history of it, and geographic differences in speech patterns mutate fast and hard. 
> 
> Second, it is cognizant of species difference in Dragons and, therefore, there are multiple ways to say the same word, because Gronkles can't make the same sounds that Nadders can make, etc etc.
> 
> For me, I modeled the English translation of Dragon-speech off of Russian, with similar sentence structure and a lack of articles. I'm also doing my best to remove the self-identifying word "I" from dragon-speech for Reasons-with-a-Capital-R , hint hint come check out my new fic when I get it posted.


End file.
